One Day We'll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter

Essays

"In One Day We'll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter, Scaachi Koul deploys her razor sharp humor to share all the fears, outrages, and mortifying moments of her life. She learned from an early age what made her miserable, and for Scaachi anything can be cause for despair. Whether it's a shopping trip gone awry; enduring awkward conversations with her bikini waxer; overcoming her fear of flying while vacationing halfway around the world; dealing with internet trolls, or navigating the fears and anxieties of her parents. Alongside these personal stories are pointed observations about life as a woman of color, where every aspect of her appearance is open for critique, derision, or outright scorn. Where strict gender rules bind in both Western and Indian cultures, leaving little room for a woman not solely focused on marriage and children to have a career (and a life) for herself"-- Provided by publisher

From the critics

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Scaachi Koul is hilarious. As a young woman of color (and the daughter of Indian immigrants) she has not often found herself represented in popular culture and so is carving out a space for herself and women like her. And it's a freaking awesome space. This book of essays covers a wide range of topics from battling overwhelming body hair, to teaching her dad about Twitter, to rampant sexual harassment, to the "joy" (read: so not joy) of being a guest at an Indian wedding. I'm excited to see what Ms. Koul does in the future!

great book! it's like having a chat with your new best friend. i'm of the same generation as the author, and also a female person of colour. my parents were not as strict as hers, but also not as quirky... still found this to be a wonderfully relatable read!!

Something so precious and tender about this beautifully written account of growing up unique, hairy and brown in a world so unlike her. So many stories like this seem sappy or sad or, worse yet, self absorbed and entitled, but this is nothing like that. She's smart and strong, yet she doesn't write like that. It's such a good balance of interior and exterior thought/dialog vs action/storyline that you just want to call her up and say thank you.

Beautifully, smartly, written, about an experience as far removed from mine as you can get, yet totally relatable and readable (in a day!).

The pieces in this collection range in tone, but even the essays that are pure humour have an undertow of cultural commentary. As she recounts getting stuck in a skirt in the fitting room of a clothing store where she used to work—and having to be cut out of it—Koul manages to perfectly capture the tendency to pin our hopes on the perfect wardrobe. Even as she is getting stuck, she thinks this is “The item, the big item that changes the way I dress and thereby changes the way I am as a person. It’s not just a skirt; it’s the entry fee for a better existence. I would exude a new confidence, it would smooth out the wrinkles in my body, it would hide all the ways I have disappointed and failed people in the past.” Body image is never far beneath the surface of these reflections, with race and gender only serving to further complicate matters. And this piece fits into the collection right alongside more serous pieces, such as the dissection surveillance as an aspect of rape culture, showcasing Koul’s diverse range and deft hand with a variety of subject matter.

Full review: https://shayshortt.com/2017/07/28/one-day-well-all-be-dead-and-none-of-this-will-matter/

Summary

The daughter of Kashmiri Indian immigrants, Scaachi Koul was born in Canada, and grew up in Calgary, Alberta before moving to Toronto for university. There she became a writer and editor for BuzzFeed Canada, and started dating a white man more than a decade her senior who she kept secret from her parents for many years. She sparked on a storm on Twitter in 2016 when she put out a call for more diverse submissions. Her debut collection of essays addressing growing up at the intersection of two cultures, fighting for a place in either one, while constantly defending choices her parents do not understand or approve of. Koul approaches this subject with a biting humour that belies the seriousness of the subject matter.

Notices

Quotes

Mom talks about moving to Canada as though my father had requested she start wearing fun hats. Why not try it? she thought, instead of This fucking lunatic wants me to go to a country made of ice and casual racism.